


Real isn't how you are made, it's something that happens to you

by paranomastic



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-08-30
Packaged: 2018-04-18 00:52:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4685987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paranomastic/pseuds/paranomastic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An account of the first two years of Velvet's life at Beacon, and how she fell really hard for Coco Adel, then spent a long time trying to deal with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Year One

_"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time.”_

She had hoped the past might hurt a little less, once she made it out, and in some ways she was right. During the day, when the lights shone and her team stood around her, Velvet could believe she was safe. But at night the light of Beacon was dim through the bedroom window and in her sleep she was trapped with only the specters of time spent alone, hiding, terrified. More than just _part_ prey, if only hunted by some part of herself.

When she woke up, sweat cold on her brow and back, breaths sharp and ragged, Velvet would look around at her team. Fox out cold across the room, Yatsuhashi and Coco flanking her. Not a one of them awake, though that was mostly a blessing. None of them, Velvet thought, deserved to contend with what kept her up at night.

Velvet was alone the first time, and she was alone the second. The third time, though, there was a stirring in the cot next to her.

She trusted Coco, of course she did. Coco was her leader, and Coco was strong. Possibly the strongest person she knew. But people with that kind of strength, she knew, had their own problems to deal with. So Velvet returned to pretending to sleep before Coco could notice.

In the dreams Velvet hunkered in cold dark places, the harsh snaps and clicks of boots on cobblestone inches away, and harsh shouts carried on the breeze distorted and underpinned by growling. And the dogs would bark and bark and bark until she broke out awake and scared.

And next to her bed stood Coco, gaze imperceptible in intent and even in intensity.

“Coco, I…” Velvet looked away, swallowing to keep the panic down. _Focus. Apologize_. “I’m sorry.”

“You should be,” she thought Coco might say, should say. “I have more important things to deal with than this.” _Than you_.

But that was not Coco’s reply. Coco did not say anything in response, not right away. Instead she moved forward, arms wrapping tight around Velvet’s shoulders, and pulled her close.

Velvet’s eyes widened, her whole body stiffening. This was… not an attempt to hurt her? This was just… being held. She wished so badly it could feel good, that her mind would stop reeling in fear. But the longer Coco held her, the closer she got to feeling the warmth of it.

_Like cocoa._

The world was a frightening place, a cold place, and knowing that did little to make it more bearable. That knowledge was intrinsic to her, ingrained time and time again. Any one of her teammates could leave. Could die. Could betray her.

The next night she woke again, and Coco was again beside her. There were still no words – no one on Team CFVY was excellent when it came to putting words together, but action Coco could do. So again she held Velvet, and this time the feeling of it was so true it almost hurt. It was real, secure and constant.

Coco said nothing when Velvet buried her face in her shoulder the third time, ignored the tears that bled into her frighteningly expensive pajamas. The pressure of the embrace remained, tightening slightly as though trying to press out the tears.

The next day when Velvet returned to the room, a book had been placed on her bed. _A Guide to Lucid Dreaming_. She really had been a bother to Coco, it seemed. Should have seen this coming, really. Waking her up in the middle of the night, forcing her to play hero against the machinations of her subconscious.

Coco was her leader, though, and Velvet owed her nothing but her best effort. So she opened up the book, and a note fell out.

_Velvet,_

_I’m new to this whole leader thing. I won’t pretend I’m not. I wish I could have said something, anything, to you these past two nights, but I’m not exactly the best with people. So as your leader, and as (hopefully) your friend, I went to Ozpin for help, since, y’know. Nothing but the best help for my team. He said he used to know someone who had trouble with dreams, and suggested this, so. Here you go. Hope it works._

_-Coco_

She just genuinely wanted to see her get better. Velvet watched the dark stain of a teardrop sink into the page as she held the book open. She could do this. She would do this. For Coco.

Velvet pored over the book for hours, trying to absorb all of it. No more nightmares, no more waking cold in the night. If she could not master anything around her, she would at least master herself. Or if not master, at least be able to control a little better. To keep the hurt from managing to catch up with her, even when surrounded by the people who had given her life new purpose.

It was when she jolted awake with a sharp gasp, moonlight streaming through the window beside her, that she realized all the work had just put her to sleep anyway. And in her sleep the nightmares had just come again.

And Coco was standing next to her, two mugs in one hand. “You like hot chocolate?” she asked, sitting on her own bed across from Velvet.

Velvet nodded, taking a mug from her leader. “Sorry, I wanted to-“ she started, but Coco held up a hand.

“You’re fine. Trust me.”

 _I do._ Velvet was surprised to find was her immediate reaction. Somehow, Coco had gotten her to trust her in just a week. Yatsuhashi had her back in a fight, sure, being her partner and all, but… somehow this worked. And that was cause for concern – trust gained that quickly was just not _real_ , not something that _happened_. She nodded, though, taking a quiet sip of the drink. It was sickeningly sweet, filled with far more sugar than she was used to, and Velvet almost ended up spitting it out. It was just so… _good_? Good. This was what real hot chocolate tasted like. Not the sugarless stuff she had managed to get her hands on once or twice at most.

One of Coco’s eyebrows raised, almost imperceptible, “You okay?”

Velvet nodded again, more vigor behind the motion this time. Why she was okay, _how_ she was okay she knew not. But she was. This was.

Coco sipped at her own hot chocolate, looking out the window. “What are your dreams like?”

“Huh?”

“The ones that wake you up. What are they like?”

Velvet gazed intently into the swirling darkness of the cocoa, “I don’t…” She had to tell her, right? Coco had asked. It would hurt, but that was an order. From her leader. That meant she had to, she knew how this sort of thing worked. “I-“

“You don’t want to tell me.” There was no judgment in Coco’s voice, it was a simple statement of fact. Clear. Even.

Velvet looked up, eyes locking with Coco’s, hers wide in desperation and Coco’s neutral as ever, “No, I just-!” She sighed. “I don’t want to tell you.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Coco was alright with her just not answering?

“Velvet…” Coco set her mug on the floor and leaned forward, “I need you following me on the battlefield, but here we need to trust each other, okay? And I trust you.”

The feeling that rose inside of Velvet was warm, and it tingled, and it rested in her chest soft and kind. She felt… Real. Like before this moment she had been a dream, a blur, and just now she was grounded and understood what it meant to exist at all. What it meant to _be_.

She would have to apologize to Coco later, because her immediate reaction was to bolt out of the room, knocking over Coco’s mug in the process and darting through the halls.

Would Coco follow her? Maybe, maybe not. She would assume Velvet would return to the room. Velvet would have to get somewhere Coco would not come looking for her. The roof was too easy, and she would be trapped anyway. A classroom, maybe? No, none of them would be open at this point of the evening. So she would just have to keep running, avoiding the hall monitors and making her way to…

The roof. She still somehow ended up on the roof. Velvet stumbled to the edge and sat, legs crossed to keep them from dangling over. Her sense of balance was good, but not _that_ sure.

Why had she run? Coco had been nice, Coco had been nothing but kind to her since their team had formed, and yet the second she realized Coco meant it Velvet had bolted. Yatsuhashi meant it when he said he would protect Coco in battle, and she trusted him for that. When it came to defense, of course he could manage it. He was her partner, if nothing else it was a requirement for class. Coco was… whatever Coco was to her, whatever she felt like Coco could be to her, Velvet knew she had probably blown her chances when she ran. Now she was on the roof, sitting and wishing that she could will some measure of courage into herself.

“Stupid Velvet, _stupid_!” she yelled, the lights of Beacon unresponsive before her. Then, horrifyingly, there was a chuckle from over her shoulder.

“Comin’ up here alone at night? Well, it sure ain’t smart for little rabbits to do something like that, no.” When Velvet turned there stood between her and the way back into the school a towering upperclassman, crouched down and ready to pounce. As if trying to catch an actual rabbit. How he had managed to sneak up on her Velvet did not know, but there was nowhere she could go now.

“L-Look, please, I can go if you want me to, but…” Maybe if he dove at her and she jumped around? No, but then he might fall off the edge, and she would no doubt be blamed for whatever came of it.

“Go? Naw, I don’t want you to go.” He advanced, face cast dark in shadow by the moonlight, “I just wanna make sure you know what happens to little bunnies who crawl out of their holes and think they can do people things. Like go to school, for example.”

Of course. Even here she was unsafe. She never should have come to Beacon, never should have tried to leave home whatever Ozpin had said to her. This place, these people, they were too good for her. As he advanced on her, Velvet knew she would have to get out of here tonight. But first, of course, this guy was going to teach her a lesson. They always had to teach her another lesson, and despite how similar the methods were there always seemed to be more lessons to teach. Or maybe she was just bad at learning.

“Hey. Big guy.” A familiar voice called behind him, and the mass of muscle turned around. It was difficult to see around his girth, but Velvet could tell it was Coco standing on the other side of him. Dressed in her pajamas and holding her handbag.

The other student’s voice emerged in a perplexed rumble, like an avalanche in need of directions to the bottom of the mountain. “What’re you interrupting us for?”

“That’s my teammate over there, champ.” Velvet imagined Coco with her hand on her hip, cold rage seeping out from her.

“You got stuck on a team with an animal? Man, sucks to be y-“ Velvet was sure he would have liked to finish, but that was the point where she heard the thud of Coco’s handbag slamming full force into his side and sending him tumbling across the roof.

Coco did not spare him a single glance before running over to Velvet. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

“No! I… sorry. I shouldn’t have-“

She was interrupted by Coco’s hand on her shoulder, “You’re okay. You are fine.”

Tears finally welled up in Velvet’s eyes, and she swallowed, “Let’s just go back to the room, okay?”

“Okay.” Coco nodded, and they walked back through the window Velvet had emerged from, closing and locking it after..

Weeks passed after that, the days spent in class and the nights spent waking and sleeping and starting and stopping. Sometimes a night managed to remain free of interruption, and in the morning Coco would smile faintly at Velvet with a slight nod of deference, and that warm feeling she had labeled being Real would rise back up inside her for a moment and she would have to look away.

Then they were on their first real away mission, earned through in-class demonstrations of Team CFVY’s combat prowess. Their dynamic was different from most teams – each member had a strong rapport with Coco, who led them all efficiently. Coco stayed in control, so the team as a whole stayed in sync. Coco was very good, as she had shown Velvet multiple times now, at staying in control of a situation. Velvet was the only one who had seen that control waver even slightly up on the roof that night.

The first day of the mission was hard, Grimm swarming so much thicker around them that Professor Royale had to step in to fight alongside them. They settled into a rhythm, Velvet and Yatsuhashi taking on crowds, Fox attacking single targets, and Coco calling orders and providing cover fire from the back. During breaks in the fighting, when the waves of Grimm subsided and they could make actual progress towards the border outpost they were trying to reach, Coco would barely even blink before moving forwards. Nothing but calm collected confidence. It was cool, but… the detached Coco Velvet saw on the battlefield caused her heart to ache a little. This was the same person who had been so kind to her? Someone had told her once that life-threatening situations brought out what was really in people’s hearts. Was this the real Coco?

Team CFVY arrived at the outpost late, exhausted but the brunt of their work over. With the path cleared out, in the morning they could get an airship in to carry out the stockpiles of supplies kept inside an abandon the building entirely. It was only five miles or so out of the city walls, but even so the Grimm had proved too numerous this time of year for the idea to remain tenable. They would move away in the later months, usually, and the outpost would be filled again, but even a week since the personnel had been extracted by a team of professional Huntresses clearing the same path they had just taken the struggle to get here had become this intense. 

The walls of the outpost were thankfully strong enough that no night watch was really needed, but Coco and Fox took first and second watch respectively. The others settled in, and…

Velvet found she could not get to sleep.

It was not that the accommodations were too uncomfortable – she had slept in much worse before – but she found herself just too on-edge. Winding down from battle, even just sparring in class, took a lot longer for her than for other people. Something about increased adrenaline production as a result of faunus physiology and years of fear, probably. Regardless of the reason, a full day of fighting had left Velvet both exhausted and wide awake, which was a bizarre state to be in.

So once Yatsuhashi and Fox were asleep and the professor finally drifted off as well, Velvet slipped out of her sleeping bag and padded outside to keep Coco company.

Coco sat on a bench outside the main building, eyes cast up at the sky over the outpost’s outer walls. Her handbag sat next to her, and the edge of a mug of actual coffee pressed up against her lips as she took a long sip. The light from the moon above cast her pale and gentle, her harshness gone in the one moment of private calm. She was… beautiful, Velvet supposed. Startlingly so. Even if she was still wearing her sunglasses for some reason.

“Velvet,” she said, not looking away from the sky above.

Velvet stood straight, eyes widening. Had Coco known she was there? How long had she been watching Coco? Oh no oh no oh no… No. _Breathe. Respond._ “Coco.”

Coco turned towards her, hints of a smile tugging at the edges of her mouth, “Can’t sleep?”

“Nah. Too wound up after the fighting.” 

“Makes sense.” Coco looked back up at the sky, but moved a foot or so down the bench and almost absentmindedly patted the spot next to her. Velvet obediently shuffled over and sat next to her, looking up at the sky alongside her leader.

“It’s beautiful.” Velvet said, and meant it. Even just what they could see of the sky over the wall stretched out so far, and the moon hung broken but triumphant in the sky. The same night sky she had seen so many times before, but amazed her every time she really got a chance to look at it.

Coco did not respond for a moment, eyes fixed (Velvet assumed) forward, then she removed her sunglasses entirely for one rare moment. “Hey, Velvet?”

“Yeah?” Velvet looked over at Coco, head tilting slightly.

Coco frowned, “Do you think I’m a good leader?”

“Of course!” Velvet blinked, “Don’t you?”

Coco’s mouth flattened out, lips thinning as they pressed together. “I like to think so. I’m trying.”

“We’re not even three months in here, Coco,” Velvet placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, “And this is just our first mission.”

“I just,” Coco paused, eyes closing, “I just wish I could…” She sighed and shook her head, “Never mind.”

“Are… are you sure?”

Coco nodded, “Yeah.” She looked up, “The stars _are_ pretty nice.”

“Mmhm.” Velvet really had nothing to offer Coco on the comforting front. She had never needed to be a leader, had always been alone, hiding and running. There had been little in the way of comfort for her, but… she could at least think of one thing.

After a moment, Velvet moved closer to Coco and leaned against her side, face a composed blank slate to keep her focus. To not freak out. To just offer Coco something like what she had offered Velvet so many nights previous, to the best of her own comfort level.

Coco blinked in surprise, but did not draw back. “Are you sure?”

Velvet nodded, slowly easing out of “rigid and nearly frozen with fear” into Coco’s side. Coco would just have to make due without words as Coco’s warmth spread into her. _Like cocoa_.

The leader, to her credit, did not keep the conversation going. She just stretched her arm around Velvet’s shoulders, keeping her close. And before Velvet knew it, it was morning and neither of them had moved, Fox crouched in watch on the wall in front of them.

“Are you two ready to move out?” Professor Royale asked, eyebrow quirked.

Velvet slammed up straight to attention, Coco’s arm moving off of her and Coco herself shaking awake. “Yes ma’am!”

Yatsuhashi and Fox were never going to let this go, were they?

Extraction with all the supplies was significantly less intense than the approach to the outpost, and within a mere few hours they were on the airship back to Beacon. Had they really been so close to the city walls this whole time? Oh well, the mission was over. The mission was over and they returned to life at Beacon. 

No one on Team CFVY talked about what had happened that night at the outpost, but word of what had lead up to there spread fast among the school faculty. The team was fast-tracked to more field combat missions, and had been on a fair handful of them by the end of their first semester. Escorting merchants, thinning out Grimm infestations that had gotten a bit too thick, and before long in terms of pure combat they were some of the most accomplished first-years in Beacon. They became… popular was not really the word for it. It was more that people did not, generally, mess with them. Not when they were together, at least. Not while Coco was around in particular. Coco could be called popular, Velvet supposed, though she never seemed comfortable with the idea.

Then the semester was almost over, and Beacon was to break for winter holidays. Everyone was either to stay on or to go home, and Velvet found herself the only one on the team staying at Beacon. The only one without both options.

She was filling out the form to confirm her winter break plans when Coco cleared her throat behind her. “You going to be okay here?”

“Huh? Oh, sure! I barely have nightmares anymore, y’know? I’ll be fine.”

A pause, and Coco reached over Velvet’s shoulder to check off “I will NOT be staying at Beacon over the break” on the form. “You’re coming home with me.” 

“Wh-What?”

“I’m not letting you stick around here alone,” Coco smiled, “And it’s too late for me to say I’m sticking around. You’ll like it. Food’s good.”

Velvet looked down, “I… if you’re sure.”

“Airship leaves after dinner.” Coco patted her on the shoulder and turned to walk out of the room, leaving Velvet alone in the room, staring at the form on her Scroll. Click, send. A small smile spread across Velvet’s face, Real-ness rising in her chest as she stood up to get ready.

Packing was easy. Velvet had very little in the way of worldly possessions at all, especially clothes, which stood in stark contrast to Coco’s massive rotating suite of outfits. To each their own, Velvet supposed. Clothes had never really been a particular priority for her, especially with how hard anything was to come by when on the run. It had always been a matter of having _something_ to wear at all, especially since being separated from her family. So one bag of clothes and toiletries later Velvet was ready to go with hours to spare.

This would be good. This would be fun, somehow, even if the number of new people she could potentially have to meet terrified her. As long as she was with Coco, she was Safe. Capital S and all. Whatever that meant. And Coco’s family, whatever they were like, was related to Coco! So they had to be good.

And it was one dinner and airship ride later that she got her first taste of what Coco’s family life was like. They arrived at a massive house, structured in strange cubes and prisms jutting out and tucking in at various points, and a note was taped to the door. Coco pulled it off, read it, and Velvet could not help but notice the way the fingers of her leader’s other hand tightened on the handle of her suitcase.

“They’re in Vacuo.” Coco said finally, tucking the note away who-knew-where, “We’ll see them the last couple of days before we head back to Beacon.”

Part of Velvet was relieved to hear that they would not have to deal with other people, of course, but at the same time even with the sunglasses she could see Coco was hurt. She would never show it, of course, but after a semester with her Velvet could tell. She could tell Coco was upset and she could tell there was nothing she could do about it. _It’s not your business, Velvet. Not your burden._

The inside of the house was as strange as the outside, once they had entered. The furniture was angular and looked as though it had been put together and then melted slightly at the joints. The walls were almost all blank white, with a few in random colors here and there.

“Your room is upstairs to the right.” Coco announced, walking her first load of luggage over to the hallway below a bend in the staircase, “Run your stuff up there and meet me back here.”

Velvet nodded and ran up the stairs to the second floor, which was just as big as the first floor, hallways jutting out in a few places from a central landing. She turned to the right, opened a door, and screwed her eyes shut as she walked in.

Then she opened them, and saw the room for the first time.

This room - _the guest room_ \- was as big as the whole living space for the team at Beacon, the bed massive and covered in a disgusting number of pillows and the walls covered in irregular patches of wallpaper in varying patterns. There was a painting above the bed of… water? A crowd of people? Several blue boxes?

Velvet walked over to the dresser and tucked away her clothes, filling up all of… one drawer. Out of ten or so. Nothing like a place this big to make her feel small.

Getting back to Coco was a relief in this entirely alien building, and it looked as though Coco had finished putting her own clothes away as well. She stood at the bottom of the staircase, foot tapping on the ground until she saw Velvet.

“Like it?”

“It’s amazing. A little big, but amazing.”

Coco smiled, “Good to hear. Want something to eat?”

Velvet nodded, and dinner and a movie later it was time for bed. She waved goodnight to Coco, headed upstairs, and burrowed her way into the mass of pillows and blankets that were on her bed. It was cozy, what could she say? And as she passed into sleep, she wished she had not noticed how Coco had only smiled when looking at her since they reached the house, or said anything about her own opinion on the place. There was never too much warmth in her, but it seemed all gone here.

The next day was pretty simple. Velvet woke up, met Coco downstairs, and they proceeded to spend the whole day shopping for clothes on Coco’s allowance. Apparently by way of apology for their absence, her parents had given her a lot of extra clothing money. Velvet was not one for fancy clothing, but Coco managed to find all sorts of places with clothes that suited her. How much thought, she wondered, had Coco put into what clothes would look good on her? Probably something she did for everyone, knowing her.

The clothes filled the second drawer, and Velvet found herself laughing. One day with Coco and she had already doubled her wardrobe. How appropriate. And still almost two weeks left of the break!

Oh hey, wait, one of Coco’s shirts was here. Must have gotten mixed up in the bags – might as well get that to her before she forgot. Velvet left the room and headed downstairs, down the hallway towards Coco’s room. She just… was unsure which door here led into Coco’s room. But hey, one of the doors had a light coming out from under it! And when she approached, she heard a thud of some kind from inside? Well, might as well head in.

The first thing Velvet noted when she walked in was that this was a very nice bathroom with a large tub and massive shower. The second thing she noticed was that Coco Adel was indeed in the room! And she was completely naked. Which would have been embarrassing enough on its own, but then there was the third thing Velvet noticed.

Coco was crying. Coco had clearly been crying for a little while now. The thud must have been her hitting the wall in frustration.

Regardless, she tucked her face behind the shirt, cheeks intensely hot. “Sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

Initially Coco barely even reacted to Velvet’s presence, but she leaned against the counter and held up a hand. “Just… leave it and go. Okay?” Her voice cracked slightly at the end, but other than that it was the cold of her leader voice.

Velvet nodded, reaching forward towards her for a moment, mouth opening to try to find something to say, but she closed it when she realized just how out of her depth she was here. “Right. Goodnight, Coco.”

“Goodnight.”

The next day started out quiet, breakfast in the kitchen saturated with silence. Eventually, Coco spoke. “Uh. Sorry.”

“No, I… I should have knocked or something. I barely saw anything, promise.”

“Wait,” Coco blinked, “You’re embarrassed about seeing me _naked_?”

“You aren’t?” She had been crying too, obviously, but people cried. Velvet had cried plenty in her time.

There was a pause, and Coco laughed, bright and loud. “You know something? I’ve never cried in front of anyone before.”

“What?” Velvet’s eyes widened. At least Coco was not mad, but this was confusing, “Why?”

Coco looked down into her cereal. “Adels don’t cry. That’s what mom and dad always said. Your eyes are the part of you that’s weakest.” She tapped on the side of her glasses, “That’s why these are here.”

“What?” Velvet leaned back. What kind of parent would say that? And then leave like this? That… she had no idea what to say about that. Other than she was much less enthused about the prospect of meeting Coco’s parents now than she had been minutes before.

Coco sighed, “My parents are… tough to deal with.”

“Are they why you were crying?” Velvet figured she owed it to Velvet to at least ask. To be sure.

Coco sighed, “They promised they’d be here, that’s all. They promise stuff a lot though, so mostly I was angry I was surprised.”

“I don’t think you’re the one at fault there, Coco.”

“Maybe not, but…” She frowned and took a slow bite of her cereal, “Whatever. Water under the bridge. Thanks for the shirt.”

The day passed quiet and mellow after that, as did the next two. They went out for dinner at a couple shockingly nice restaurants, which Velvet managed not to panic at after very calm explanation from Coco about what exactly she should do throughout the meal. They also managed to find her enough clothing to fill up a third drawer, which was remarkable.

Eventually they reached New Years Eve, and Velvet came downstairs to find Coco pacing around the living room, fists balled up at her sides. Oh no. “Coco?” She asked, stopping halfway down.

Coco froze mid-pace and turned towards her. “Hey, Velvet.” Her voice was even, but felt stretched thin, like an overdrawn bowstring.

“Did… something happen?”

Coco exhaled heavily. It was not a sigh, but it was close. “Look on the Scroll.”

She gestured towards the table in the living room, and Velvet made her way to it. There was a text pulled up on it: “Happy new year, Coco.” from contact “Mother.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Coco looked over, blinking.

“They’re not even calling. On _New Year’s_.” She sighed, for real this time, “And that’s the same text they sent last year. And the year before that.”

“Oh.” Velvet turned back to the Scroll, and found she had accidentally pressed back on the menu. And all of Coco’s texts were… “Coco?”

“Yeah?”

“Are these…” Velvet looked back over, “Are these all invitations from other people to hang out?” Coco might get angry, but she had to know, now that she had seen.

Coco was not angry, it seemed. Just sort of resigned. “Lots of people want to.”

“And you’ve just been ignoring them?” There were _upperclassmen_ inviting her places! Really popular upperclassmen.

“I didn’t invite you here to ditch you.” Coco walked over and sat next to Velvet on the couch. “Besides, you’re way cooler than them.”

Velvet blinked. The proper reaction probably should have been being flattered or something, but… years of being blamed for things going wrong, being attacked and hated, drew a different response out of her. “So you’ve been stuck here because of me.”

“Velvet, that’s not-“

“You should go out, Coco.” She turned towards her, “I’ll be fine. Honest.”

Coco paused, contemplative, then reached over and took the Scroll from Velvet’s slightly trembling fingers. A few keystrokes later she had it pressed up to her ear, “Lily, hey. Party at your house, right?” A pause. “Mmhm, yeah. Listen, put me down with a plus one, okay? Yeah? See you tonight.”

Velvet’s eyes widened in shock, “Why did you-“

“I’m not dealing with those people by myself.” Coco smirked, “So if I need to go out to one of these parties, I’m going to need backup.”

“Backup…” Velvet looked intently at her knees, hands pressed between them, ears drooping. “I’m not… really cut out for parties. And New Years parties are pretty big, aren’t they?”

Coco shrugged, “Probably. But you’ll be right next to me, okay? We just need to stick together. Just like anything else.”

“Do you really think I can…” She looked over at Coco, and suddenly the familiar lightness returned to her chest. “You really think I can do this.” Coco’s trust in her was finally showing a con, it seemed.

“I do.” Coco placed a hand on her shoulder, and Velvet only flinched a little, “We’re only two parts of a team, but we’re a team.”

And that night, as two parts of a team, they did indeed go to the party. It was held in a house almost as distressingly large as Coco’s, colored lights flashing all over and the music loud, and the building full of people. Velvet kept herself pressed tight against Coco’s side, far from comfortable but at least safe as they waded through the crowd towards the food. Luckily for her, all the people who approached were intent on talking to Coco instead of her. She may as well not have been there at all – which, honestly, was in large part for the best. Coco was the one who had been invited to the party, after all.

Eventually, to give Coco some space and get some open space for herself, Velvet pulled away from her and wandered out onto a balcony overlooking the street. The only other partygoers with the same idea, it seemed, were a couple who were far more busy with each other than they could possibly be with her. As long as they did not mind sharing the space, though, Velvet supposed she did not either.

This break had been… well, it had been wonderful. It was the first time away from Beacon in a very long time that Velvet could safely label “wonderful,” accidental glimpses of nudity and all. She felt much closer to Coco than she had even before, but what did that mean, anyway? Did she _like_ like her? What would it even mean for her if she did? She certainly knew Coco better than she knew anyone else, but even if they _did_ get together, how could she hope to keep up with Coco long-term?

Velvet turned around and looked inside, where Coco was currently caught up in conversation with three people at once. Well, “conversation” was a strong word for it – they were certainly talking to her, but she was stuck in the middle just staring through her sunglasses at all of them. That was an interesting perk to the sunglasses, Velvet supposed – none of them could tell whether or not she was looking at them.

Or if Coco was looking out at her.

That was the other question. If Coco liked her back. And if Coco did like her back, would it last? Was it just pity? That was very often the reason why people liked her, when they did. But pity never warmed her like it did when Coco looked at her. No, whatever it was that Coco felt towards her could not possibly be pity.

And that scared Velvet a little.

She had only looked away from Coco back over the edge of the balcony for a second, she swore, when a throat cleared next to her. “We don’t have to stick around here, you know.”

“Huh?” Velvet looked over and sure enough, there was Coco, leaning her side against the rail and looking for all the world like the absolute pinnacle of cool. As per dang usual.

“We can leave the party.” Coco smiled slightly in her uniquely Coco way, “You look like you’ve suffered enough.”

“No, I… you’re having fun, right? We should stay.”

“Not if you’re not having fun.” Coco looked away, “Besides, there’s… something I want to talk to you about. And a good café down the street that’ll be private.”

“I mean… if you’re sure.”

And Coco was sure, so within a few minutes they had slipped out of the house and made their way to the café. No one else was inside except for the very bored-looking night shift barista, so they got drinks and pastries and made their way to a table within a few minutes.

Velvet took a quick sip of her water and glanced up at Coco. “So… what did you want to talk about?”

For the first time she had seen, Coco fully blushed, hiding it behind her latte. “Don’t, uh, take this the wrong way, and if the answer is no that’s fine, but…” She sighed, “Do you want to go out sometime?”

Yes. Of course she wanted to go out. Wanted. She would have loved to, to be able to experience the warmth of how Coco made her feel all the time, but… “I want to, Coco. I really want to. But I’m not… I’m not ready yet. I’m sorry, I just-“

Coco raised a hand, “It’s fine, Velvet.” She took off her sunglasses, setting them aside, and looked directly at her. “I can wait. I’m good at that.”

Relief washed over Velvet, palpable and bright, “I’ll try not to make you wait too long.”

Coco chuckled, “Take as much time as you want. I’m not exactly the hurrying type, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“And you’re not mad? Nothing’s weird now?”

“Nothing’s weird. Promise.” Coco took a calm sip of her latte for emphasis. “Just tell me when you’re ready, and I’ll be ready to go too.”

Velvet nodded so fast her neck ached afterwards, “I will! Promise. It just might be a while, but. I will.”

Coco held her latte out, “To eventually.”

“To eventually.” Velvet tapped her water gently against the cup and took a nibble of the muffin she had purchased. Well, that Coco had purchased for her. Semantics. Coco seemed to just be really into buying her things in general.

Somewhere out on the street, a clock started to chime and a lot of people started to yell very loudly. “Oh hey, it’s midnight. Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year, Coco.” Velvet looked out the window of the café and smiled. This year was going to be good, she could feel it.

Coco set down her latte, “You know, relationship or not…” Her glasses were still off, and Velvet could see the hint of uncertainty in her eyes even in the pale Coco Reflection in the window, “You’re supposed to kiss someone on New Years. And much as I would _love_ to make that barista’s day… how about it?”

“Well…” Velvet looked over at her leader, an uncharacteristically courageous smile playing across her lips, “If it’s tradition and you’re out of other options, I guess I’m alright with it.”

They leaned across the table, which was thankfully small, and the kiss was one of the most incredible things Velvet had ever experienced. Coco tasted like coffee and electricity, the buzz filling her head and distracting her for a good thirty seconds from how strange it was that she could taste Coco at all. Apparently at some point very quickly in the kiss on one side or the other, tongues had gotten involved. And she almost didn’t mind until after she had pulled away.

“Now I’m really excited for you to be ready,” Coco remarked, amusement sparking across her face. She picked up her sunglasses and slipped them back on, wires tucked back behind her ears.

“Have you… done that before?” Velvet asked, very pointedly redoubling focus on her muffin.

Coco nodded, “Yup. A few times. It happens.” A pause of realization, “You haven’t?”

“Nope.” Velvet asked, popping the “p” with slightly more intensity than intended. “That… was my first.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Coco leaned back, taking a sip of her latte. Out in the street, partygoers were starting to stream down running in celebration of their party’s intended purpose.

For the rest of her life Velvet did not forget what Coco looked like in that moment – the millimeter curl of her smile, the way the lights of the sparklers outside reflected in her glasses, the few disheveled strands of hair cast wayward by the movements of the party, and the exact angle at which she was holding the latte mug.

A few days later they headed back to Beacon together after one last shopping trip to get Velvet some additional luggage (leaving before, Coco insisted, her parents returned). It was not long before classes resumed and they settled back into the swing of Beacon life, Yatsuhashi and Fox back by their sides. Despite attempts not to let things be weird between them, though, Velvet found herself avoiding Coco more and more in favor of Yatsuhashi, and Coco spending more time with Fox. Which was perfectly fine for the team’s combat dynamic, certainly – the increased rapport between Velvet and Yatsuhashi kept them in sync, then Coco could command them as a unit and Fox as an individual fighter, which was really where he was most effective anyway.

Velvet spent over three months – most of the semester – waiting to even figure out how she would know that she was ready to be with Coco long-term. There was no magic “ready” light that would ding in her head like the light on an oven, she knew that. So Velvet busied herself trying to learn new things – baking, for example. It was worth a shot, she figured. Maybe in learning other stuff she would figure out how to handle a relationship? Yet sadly it remained a mystery, until about halfway through the semester.

Velvet had not meant to loiter in the empty classroom for long, there was just some homework she needed to finish and moving seemed an unnecessary pain. And as focused as she was on the homework, she had missed the large student Coco had injured on the roof entering and walking up to her, other members of his team filing in to guard the door.

“Aw look, it’s Coco’s pet all alone,” He was close now, towering over her. “Now I can finish what I started. Pretty exciting!”

Suddenly Velvet was in the air, gripped by the throat.

“I ended up with a broken rib because of you, you know that?” He sneered, “Now I’m gonna break you, just to show Coco what happens when you mess with me.”

 _This isn’t even about me anymore._ She thought as the first punch hit her, bouncing off her Aura but weakening it. _But it is about me. It’s always about me._ Velvet Scarlatina, born with the unique misfortune of being a faunus, and nothing but trouble wherever she went. Whoever she went to.

Only a few punches made it through once her Aura was burned out, but by that time she was already fully limp. It even took a few seconds for her to recognize that Coco had entered the room, having cleared out the students by the door and bludgeoned the one formerly holding her considerably. It was almost messy, but Velvet snapped back to her senses before Coco could actually kill him.

“Coco, stop!”

Coco froze, bloodied fist rising up from his probably-broken nose. Below her, the guy’s eyes were wide with fear. As was, Coco would probably argue, the correct response.

“Let him go.”

She did. He laughed as he stood up, “Guess I see who’s the pet no-“

Coco shot him a Look, and he pulled the emergency brakes on that particular train of thought, electing instead to run out of the room. The other two who were by the door stumbled out after him.

“Why?” Coco’s gaze remained fixed on the door, expression and tone neutral.

Velvet sighed, “Coco, I’ve been running away from things my whole life. Letting you fight my battles for me is just more of that.”

“Velvet…”

“I know you want to, okay? I know you…” _Love me_ , “But I need to learn how to fight people like that for myself. To be… confident, I guess. I’m sorry. I’m glad you were here, but-”

Coco shook her head, “No, you’re right. Hate to say it, but…” She frowned, standing up and setting her clothes back into place, “No need to be sorry.”

Velvet nearly melted with relief, “Thank you. For… understanding.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” a dangerous amount of smirk emerged on Coco’s face, “As your leader, I’m making sure you take this seriously.”

Oh dear. “What, uh, do you mean?”

“Well, you have magic down, but…”

It could have been worse than hand-to-hand combat lessons with Fox a couple times a week and an insistence that she figure out a weapon to bring into battle instead of just the Dust magic. But that was what marked the rest of the second semester. 

And true to her word, all the way until summer break rolled around, through another big away mission and everything, Coco did not interfere in Velvet’s life at all. Which was in many ways disappointing, but in many other ways freeing. She never quite used her newfound personal combat skills on other people, but unfortunately Coco’s attacks on her assailant seemed to have rendered her safe from targeting by the other students. So at least until the end of the year, Velvet was kept safe by that reputation. Plenty of time to better herself, to get confident… and maybe, just maybe, she thought to herself as the rest of her team left Beacon for the summer, that next year she would be ready to ask Coco out.

“I’m glad to see you decided to stay for the summer, Miss Scarlatina.” Ozpin himself, ever undetectable until he wanted to be noticed, said from over her shoulder as the last airship carried the C, F, and Y away from Beacon.

“Thank you for letting me, but… it’s mostly because I don’t have anywhere else to go.” She smiled at him, despite the worry that ate at her over the summer ahead, “Not yet.”

Ozpin smiled back, “Hopefully our hospitality will suit you for now, then.”

And she had to admit, lonely as Beacon in the summer was, it did. Beacon without ninety-five percent of its students was lonely, but there was plenty of time to think. And even when not thinking, occasional invitations to coffee with Ozpin gave her time to talk, too. “Not your preferred spelling, I know, but it’s the drink I’m most fond of,” he would say every time as he poured her a mug, as though it was still funny the third or fourth time. And every time she laughed – if not out of humor then to offer him something in return for the way in which he was so good at listening to her.

And before long the summer was winding back to autumn, like a gear from a clock whirring away, and it was the end of her last coffee with Ozpin. 

“Before you go, Miss Scarlatina,” he said as she turned to leave and, hopefully, catch Yatsuhashi’s arrival back to campus, “Best of luck to you this year. In all things.”


	2. Year 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact it is really hard to write stuff that hasn't happened in canon yet I am sorry about how much the tournament section glosses over. Really I am.

_"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit._

_"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."_

 

Settling back into the schedule of Beacon academia was, Velvet found, easier than expected. The summer had changed all of Team CVFY in subtle ways – Yatsuhashi was less uncomfortable with the idea of emotions, Coco more willing to treat her command with less straight-faced seriousness, Velvet found a little more confidence to her (though not quite as much as she needed, not yet), and Fox… well, okay, most of them had changed.

It was a few days before Coco and Velvet really got time to themselves, but boy did they ever get plenty when they did. As part of her newfound desire to get to know the members of her team better, Coco would spend one or both days of each weekend with a member of the team. Meditating somewhere with Yatsuhashi, sometimes, or whatever it was Coco and Fox did together for fun. As close as she and Coco were, Fox was still her partner, and they had the clearest working relationship in the team, especially on the battlefield. Plenty of people not in the know were honestly surprised Coco and Fox were not dating, and it was not hard to see why. Martial arts lessons from Fox had made him much less of an enigma to Velvet herself, but he was still strange.

When she and Coco spent time together, though, they shopped. For clothes, usually, or whatever struck Coco’s fancy. And most of the day was spent talking about the clothes or whatever, but at lunch they could actually talk.

“So how was your summer?” Velvet asked, poking at her salad.

Coco shrugged, “Fine, I guess. Same as usual.”

If the ‘usual’ of the winter break was any indication, that could be less than fine. “Did, ah, did you see your parents?”

“Sure did.” Coco sighed, “For maybe a month. They bought me a nice vacation to Atlas, at least. Not that they were there, but I guess I can’t have everything.”

“Still, you should have people who…” Her salad suddenly needed more attention, and across from her Coco sighed.

“Yeah, well. How was summer at Beacon?”

Velvet looked up, “Lonely, mostly. Ozpin was really willing to talk at least, but… only talking with professors all the time gets weird after a while.” A nervous laugh, “He’s nice, though.”

“I guess so.” Coco admitted, an eyebrow raising, “I think you got the better deal, though.”

“You could have stayed, you know.” Velvet pointed out.

“I can avoid my parents for a couple days,” Coco took a sip of her water, “Not a few months. They wouldn’t take it well.”

“At least you saw them for a little while?”

Coco was silent for a long few moments, then smiled a little, though it seemed more like she was pushing the edges of her mouth up with invisible fingers. “At least.”

Ow.

The rest of the day passed in conversation about anything else, but nothing meaningful – clothing choices, food, upcoming assignments of away missions. Nothing below surface level in their lives. Velvet needed – more than anything else she needed a way to make it up to Coco. She was just taking so long… a time limit. That was what she needed. A time limit on how long before she would get together properly with Coco.

And within a few weeks, she got one.

“So we’re planning the dance next semester.” Coco announced one morning at breakfast, about a month into the year.

Fox raised an eyebrow, “Us? Or you?”

“ _Us_.” Coco lowered her glasses for a moment to glare at him, a gesture which was ultimately lost on him but not ineffective at getting her feelings across to the rest of the team as regarded would-be dissenters.

“D-Do we have to start now, or…” Velvet had never planned a dance before. Honestly, Velvet had never _been_ to a dance before. She had dresses aplenty for it now, yes (though Coco would no doubt insist on buying her a new one for the occasion anyway), but the thought of it was still worrisome at best.

Coco shook her head, “No, we have time. Second semester starts with our first big away mission anyway, we can figure the dance out after that.”

Ah, right. The away mission. By all accounts Team CFVY was set to go on one of the biggest, most important away missions available to Beacon students. And just after the break, too, when all the students from the other kingdoms would be around. And would, no doubt, be at that dance. So they were getting several different flavors of responsibility piled on them, it seemed. Such was the burden of being top of their class, she supposed.

Still, this was good. All she had to do was make sure she was ready by the time the away mission was over to ask Coco to the dance. She could be ready by then, right? That was over a semester from now, and they would be away from the pressures of school, with combat to worry about instead which was much more straightforward (and in some ways at least seemed a little less dangerous). All she had to do was gain enough self-confidence in the next few months to enter into a relationship with Coco, stand up to whoever elected to bully her, and whatever else it was people used self-confidence for. Maybe wearing a weird hat in public?

Piece of cake. Ha ha ha. Totally.

The first key, Velvet assumed, was to develop an ability to successfully spend time away from her team. So with Coco’s permission, she had taken a class with Professor Oobleck (“Seriously? You want _another_ class with him?” “He’s nice, I don’t know.” “Your funeral.”) that no other members of the team were enrolled in and was mostly first-year students who would not have quite caught onto Coco’s protective reputation. Oobleck had even personally promised, in his long-winded-yet-standard-length way, that he would give her extra material to make up for the simplistic nature of the course material in comparison to what she had already learned. She wished that had been a request she had made of him herself, but there was no getting a word in edgewise if Oobleck set his mind to explain something to you, no matter how confident a person you might be.

This decision had earned Velvet a lot of interesting coursework, a rapport with some of the first-years on a personal level (those Team RWBY kids were awfully nice), and indeed a tormenter! Cardin Winchester, a pleasant downgrade on the racist bully intensity meter from what she had to deal with the year before and much less prone to direct violence. Just way more into the public humiliation thing. Which was compounded by the new class schedule requiring Velvet to eat during the first-year lunch period half the days instead of the second-year with her team. 

She wanted to hurt him, she certainly had learned enough from Fox by now to. The martial arts lessons continued weekly, Fox demonstrating and Velvet following as best she could until he gave her some terse explanation on how to be less terrible at it, and guidance for when she would practice later. She deployed the moves in the field fairly easily, but something Fox said fairly early on had stuck with her.

“If you are the stronger one, this is not for striking the first blow.” He had placed his hand on her arm, the rare moment of physical contact reinforcing the urgency rather than anything in his tone, “And not striking the first blow will make you the stronger one.”

So true to that, she never struck out against Cardin. Really, she had no idea if she could bring herself to, no matter what he did. Maybe even not if he did strike first – though that could change before the end of the semester. That would have to change by the end of the semester.

She managed to admit openly in class that she had been discriminated against for being a faunus! That was at least a good start, right? It was a start, at least. Now she just had to keep going. Maybe be the first one to raise her hand in class when the same question was asked next time! Who knew?

There really was a long way for her to go before the end of the semester.

Progress did not happen quickly, either. She had to keep trying to spend time away from her team, which hurt, but she knew they would appreciate in the long run. Even the occasional shopping day with Coco seemed empty, the leader probably nursing some sort of resentment towards her as they went, conversations nearly meaningless and discussion never straying towards the personal.

An entire away mission came and went, even, and still nothing. Coco seemed like she was making a point to avoid her, her commands all wooden and brief. And of course Velvet had no idea where to even begin asking her what she was doing wrong, what she _had_ done or what she could do in the future to improve. Life settled into a rhythm, but it was not a pleasant rhythm. It was dissonant and it was repetitive, and it started to grate after a while.

But it must have been a catchy rhythm, because before long only a week remained in the semester and Velvet had made next to no progress. Some friends, maybe, which was nice, but no progress on the front she actually wanted to make progress on. Which was terrible. And so, very late at night, she found herself pacing on the roof where she had been attacked the year before, angrily muttering to herself.

“Stupid, stupid, _stupid_ , ugh, I can’t even – ‘Velvet Scarlatina can fight Grimm better than most of her class, but can’t deal with doing person things. Maybe because she’s not a _person_ , she’s a-‘“ she cut herself off, holding her head in her hands, “Rgh! Dang it!” Wow, even when venting away from everyone else Velvet could not bring herself to swear. Way to go, her.

“Not having the best night, I see, Miss Scarlatina.” A voice spoke up from behind her, and she whipped around thinking _Oh no, not again_ before recognizing that the voice came from Professor Oobleck.

“No.” She admitted when she had gotten herself to relax enough, “Not really.” Of all the people to be out and about on campus at two am, though, she supposed Oobleck made the most sense, given the profound intensity of his caffeine intake. Which she supposed, as a member of Team CFVY, she should respect.

“Would you, perhaps, like to,” siiiiiiiiiip, “talk about it?”

Ozpin Oobleck was certainly not, but Velvet supposed Ozpin could not afford to be at every emotionally significant moment in his students’ lives on every roof in Beacon. “I don’t know. I just… I wanted to be confident in myself by next semester, and it… it’s not happening.”

“Hm. And why is this so important, exactly?” Sip.

“It’s gonna sound stupid.”

“Not as stupid as suggesting you aren’t a person, I assure you.”

Velvet winced. Okay, fair. “I want to ask this girl out to the dance next semester. But we… I…” she sighed, “I don’t want to start anything with her unless I know I can handle going long-term.”

Sip. Siiiiiiiiiip. “So you are trying to improve your perception of yourself within a limited timeframe… for a girl? Forgive me, Miss Scarlatina, but I did not take you for that kind of person.”

“No, she…” This was not the kind of thing she ever anticipated talking to a teacher about, wow. “She asked me out last year, and… I’m tired of keeping her waiting.”

Sip. “Miss Scarlatina, this may sound somewhat, er, _hypocritical_ of me, being as I am so fond of rushing and setting deadlines, but neither of those two interests of mine have ever been particularly useful in personal development.” Sip. “But that is, as they say, just my two cents.”

“I just… I’m worried if I don’t have a deadline it’ll never happen. I need to make it happen.”

“Hm. Well then, I suppose it might be worth a shot.” Oobleck’s coffee lowered for once – maybe he was out, “But if this girl has waited for you this long, my suspicion is she will be fine waiting a little longer.”

 _Yes, but I don’t **want** her waiting for me anymore_. “I guess so. I don’t know. She might not even want to anymore. She’s been really distant all year.”

“Perhaps you should sleep on it!” He declared, raising his arm for another sip. Nope, she supposed, he was not out. “I may not sleep much, but I know the appeal of a good full night of it! And also, while you are at it, consider that perhaps repairing that damage done should take priority. Wouldn’t want to gain all that self-confidence you’re looking for and find you lost the reason for it in the search, hm?”

Sleep that night made one thing clear: confidence or no, her goal first had to be repairing what damage the time had done to her relationship with Coco. Oobleck was, she had to admit, right about that at least. Before the mission (with the Vytal Festival upcoming there was no winter break to be had this year) she started to plan a way to fix things while they were away. She could figure out a new deadline after, but all the confidence in the world did not matter if Coco remained distant.

First she would have to figure out what she had done wrong, or what had happened over the summer to change Coco’s view of her. Second she would have to figure out what it would take to change that view. And then do it. Easy. A three-step process at most, right? Or two steps and then a lot of improvising, anyway.

Unfortunately, once the away mission started, time alone with Coco proved hard to get. “High-profile” seemed to mean, here, “Excessive numbers of Grimm in all directions swarming with no sign of respite.” The mission clearing the way to the outpost the year before seemed a light patrol compared to this. It was also, apparently, going to take _weeks_. How they were possibly going to have the energy to schedule, plan, and decorate a dance after all this was beyond her.

A week into the mission they were all already exhausted, seated around the campfire having parted ways with Professor Royale a few days prior. They had found an upper story of a ruined building to stay in, with only a single staircase to watch through the night. Yatsuhashi was maintaining his sword, Fox was cleaning out his gauntlets, Velvet was checking her Dust reserves, and Coco had her Scroll out checking for updates from home or Professor Royale. She left for a moment to take a call, signal booster still pressed to the base of it, and Velvet sighed in the general direction of the fire.

“We will get through this.” Yatsuhashi’s hand was on her shoulder, which was appreciated but the aim of his words was a little off.

“Not exactly what I’m worried about, but thanks.” They could handle the mission, Velvet knew the team could handle the mission.

The hand remained. “Then what _is_ worrying you?”

“Coco.” Velvet admitted, hiding her face in her hands.

“You are worried for her?”

“Sort of. I just really wish she would… talk to me more? I don’t know. I asked her to give me space to figure some things out, but last semester we barely talked about anything.”

“Should I talk to-“

“No!” She found she had turned towards Yatsuhashi and grabbed onto his arm, a grip she slowly relented as red rose in her cheeks, “No, it’s something I need to talk to her about myself. Sorry.”

“No need. I trust you.” Yatsuhashi returned to polishing his blade, and Velvet returned her gaze to the fire.

_I wish I could trust me right about now. Or that she trusted me._

“Alright, everyone.” Coco walked back into the circle of firelight, Scroll and signal booster tucked away somewhere, “Apparently the Grimm population ahead is even denser than they thought, and we’re behind schedule already.”

“What a shock.” Fox intoned, not bothering to divert focus from his gauntlet maintenance. 

Coco took a moment to glare at him, then continued. “Anyway, the mission is already going to run at least a week over our scheduled return point. Which means you guys don’t have to worry about planning the dance.” She shrugged, “They’re handing it off to some first-years, I guess.”

“Oh.” Honestly, that was even better than expected. Being able to just go to the dance as students instead of dance supervisors would be welcome if she could get herself in gear to ask Coco! Assuming she could somehow actually fill a night out like that with Coco on her own. But that was the lack of confidence talking, right? And that was what she needed to fix anyway.

“So we can all sleep a little bit better.” Coco concluded. “Velvet, you’re on first watch.”

Velvet nodded, “Right!”

“Nice energy.” Coco picked up her handbag and walked across to the sleeping bags. “I’m out. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” chimed Fox and Yatsuhashi.

“… ‘night.” Velvet replied before standing to head out to start her watch. At least there was still time before she had to talk to Coco.

Yatsuhashi looked up at her. “Are you sure you do not want me to talk to Coco for you?”

“Yes, Yatsuhashi, I’m sure.” Velvet walked out towards the stairs, “Tonight just isn’t the right night for it.”

The night after was not the right night either, because the day had left Velvet too exhausted. The next night Coco was busy bandaging up a wound on her arm (“Hey, we’ll match.” Fox had said in his usual bored-yet-not way), and for the next two weeks night after night Velvet had an excuse not to talk to Coco. And it was only those weeks later that she realized just how hard she had been looking for excuses this trip. Just sitting and charging her weapon and trying to avoid Coco’s gaze. Like the coward she apparently was.

Okay. No more excuses. The trip was almost over, and it was the night the dance would have been. They were finally getting out of here the next day, and if she did not say something now life would go back to normal until the tournament. Just another deadline she would fail to meet.

The team was camped out in an outpost much like the one they had come to on their first mission, and Coco was alone outside by the fire. As Velvet approached, she could tell Coco was humming to herself.

“You were really excited for the dance, huh?”

Coco jolted upward, then nodded, not turning towards her, “Yeah, I guess I was.”

Still? Even now she was being distant? For once, Velvet felt anger boil up inside her – actual anger that she could direct outwards, not the reservoir of low-grade anger at herself that had been building up particularly fast these last few months. “Look at me.”

“What?” Coco turned, sunglasses still on.

“Look at me, Coco. Glasses off.”

“What are you-“

“ _Do it_ , Coco.” Never in Velvet’s life had her tone turned like this. It was… well, not as scary as most when they were angry, but hopefully it made up for the difference in contrast to her usual demeanor.

Coco, shockingly enough, obliged. The firelight glinted in the edges of her eyes, accenting how wide and surprised they had gotten. “Okay, glasses off.”

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

“Have not!”

“Have too!” Velvet’s hands were fists at her sides, limbs and ears straight as they could go. If she could have raised her fur or hair on end, rest assured she would have done so. She hoped it looked at least a little bit frightening. Or at least concerning, she would settle for concerning.

One of Coco’s hands, curiously enough, made it to her opposite arm to rub just below her shoulder, “You asked me to stay away from you, right? No more ‘letting me fight your battles.’ So that’s what I did.”

That was a good enough answer. That was a perfectly reasonable answer, but somehow Velvet could not bring herself to believe it, and she had no idea why. “That’s not it, though, is it?”

A spark of something ignited in Coco’s eye, and Velvet’s heart sank. “No, Velvet, I-“

“Tell me.” Velvet was glaring at her now, still not really knowing why. “I’m not fragile, Coco. I’ve lived on my own for years because my parents got me out of a labor camp. You name a terrible thing humans can do to a faunus, it’s probably happened to me or someone I’ve known. I’m scared, Coco, but I’m not stupid and I’m not going to shatter if you say the wrong word to me. I’m part rabbit, I’m good at bouncing back.”

“Velvet…”

“If we’re ever going to be together you need to trust me enough to- did something happen? I need to know! Was it something I did?”

“No!” Coco shot up to her feet, hand held out towards Velvet before pulling it back, “It’s nothing you did. Trust me.”

 _But there IS something wrong_. “What happened, then? Coco, I need you to tell me.” Velvet stepped forward, and Coco stepped back in turn. Whatever had happened was serious, and the more Velvet thought about it the more certain she became that remaining on the attack was the right thing to do.

“It’s- It’s my parents, okay?” Coco looked away, and Velvet could have sworn there were tears in her eyes. “My stupid, stupid, ‘we have nothing against the faunus, dear, it’s just that if you date one that’s disobeying us and if you disobey us as we have stated we will disown you in all but name because we are actually the worst’ parents. Who… who said that. Last summer.”

Velvet’s anger subsided for a moment to give way to a wave of shock. “They said that?”

“When I was little,” Coco started, still looking away, “They said if I ever disobeyed them I was gone. No more support, no more money, nothing.”

“And dating me would be…”

Coco nodded. “You thought it was weird that I asked you if you thought I was a good leader, way back on our first mission, right?”

Velvet nodded.

“I’ve had two shining examples of how not to be a good leader my entire life. I needed to know I’m not like them.”

Velvet was silent for a good long while. “That’s… then maybe we shouldn’t…” The last thing Velvet wanted to do in all of this was hurt Coco. And even if it was just because of her parents, the last thing Velvet wanted to do was be responsible for someone losing their parents, no matter how terrible those parents were. She knew too well how much it hurt being alone.

“No, Velvet…” Coco stepped forward and placed her hands on Velvet’s shoulders, which might have been the most affectionate thing she had ever seen Coco do, apart from the whole kissing thing, “Listen. They’re why I get all the clothes I want, all the food I want, whatever. I spent all of last semester trying to figure out what it would mean to lose that. But _nothing_ I ever wanted before you mattered for more than a season.” She was… Coco was _crying_ now, and Velvet felt herself starting to mist up a little. “And that’s why I can wait for you.” 

“You… I… I can’t…” Velvet’s moment of resolve was put away, and she stumbled forward into Coco to hold her, be close to her, _something_. For both their sakes.

And just like that, Coco’s arms were around her, and the warmth rose up in her again as it did so often when she was with Coco, and Velvet realized that it was not the warmth of being in love, this Real-ness. It was the warmth of being loved, of coffee shared in cafes on New Years and nights spent on benches ignoring the stars and sitting awake at two am post-nightmare confused about where warmth was coming from. But there was warmth, there was always warmth, and it stayed with her over time.

_Like Coco._

“Pretty good confidence there, by the way.” Coco mentioned, quiet in Velvet’s ear.

She nodded, pressing closer into Coco’s shoulder, “I guess so.”

“Are you ready, then?”

Was she? She certainly felt ready right about then, but the issue was the potential for long-term engagement.

“I think…” Velvet swallowed. She certainly felt close to ready, and this had certainly been progress, but. “I don’t know if I’ll be ready tomorrow, but… just for tonight I think I am.”

“You sure?”

“Yup.” Velvet nuzzled slightly into Coco’s neck, “One hundred percent.”

“Well then,” Coco stepped back, Velvet reluctantly detaching from her, and checked her Scroll, “I heard there’s a school dance tonight. Wanna go?”

Velvet giggled, “It’s probably almost over by now.”

“I mean, if we’re going together,” she stretched her arm out towards Velvet, smiling, “All that really matters is we catch the last dance, right?”

Velvet reached forward, letting Coco take her hand, “I guess so.” She let herself be pulled towards Coco until they were close together, arms entwined around each other’s shoulders.

“How’s that?”

“Great except for the part where I can’t dance.” Velvet admitted, biting her lip and looking down between them at their feet. Which would soon be moving to some kind of rhythm? Velvet strongly doubted her ability to dance with a song going, let alone her ability to dance without one.

Coco moved her arms down Velvet until her hands were planted firmly on either side of her waist. “I’ll lead. Just focus on me and don’t think too much about it, okay? Eyes up here, I’ll handle the music.”

Their feet started moving, and Coco started humming… something into her ear. It was familiar, somehow, like she had heard it in a movie once maybe? One of the few movies she had seen. But it had a steady, slow rhythm, and she found herself settling into a dance with Coco. An awkward dance, with constant struggle to make sure they steered clear of the fire, but Velvet only stepped on Coco’s toes once and Coco’s boots absorbed the blow. Or at least Coco was able to ignore the pain enough to pass it off as such.

There was no reason for it to be this pleasant, given how stilted and strange the dancing was, but Velvet could think of no place she would rather be. _I can do this_ , she thought to herself. For the first time she knew, not just thought, that she could gather up the self-confidence to be with Coco. She knew where to look now – inside herself, not anywhere else. 

Once the song was over, or at least Coco was out of song she knew to hum, they just stood there for a few minutes silent against each other. Then Coco tilted Velvet’s head up and pressed lips down onto hers, brushing a few stray bangs from Velvet’s face as she did. Velvet’s eyes fluttered closed, the fire behind them paling in comparison to the warmth rising inside her, and she knew in that moment that she was Real and Loved and before long she would be able to handle it.

The next morning Velvet woke stripped down to underwear, Coco arced against her back and holding her with one arm around her between her waist and chest, sleeping bag pulled tight over them both. She waited a few moments before moving, eyes closed in appreciation of the warmth, before moving on. This was where she had to get to, to be at the level where at any given time she could conjure up that level of courage.

One set of clothing and a short walk outside later, she found Fox and Yatsuhashi waiting for her, Fox seated on a bench and Yatsuhashi looking over the wall, assumingly for their transport out and back to Beacon.

“I see you two finally… talked.” Yatsuhashi noted, nodding towards the door from whence a half-dressed Coco had emerged. So much for subtlety.

Fox looked right past Velvet at Coco, “So did you guys do it?”

“No!” Velvet squeaked, then took a second to regain her composure, “Not yet.” 

Coco raised an eyebrow above her sunglasses (which had found their way back onto her even before her shirt, but that made sense), but said nothing in direct response to the second half of Velvet’s comment. “We literally just slept together. That’s it.”

“Actual sleep!” Velvet insisted. “Not… y’know… sex.”

“Yet.” Coco added, smirking.

“… yet.” Velvet admitted, and that was when the whir of the airship’s approach sounded on the horizon, thank whatever powers might be.

When they returned to Beacon, one silent airship ride of shy exhausted glances and half-smiles later, an actual crowd of students was there to meet them. That was, she supposed, what happened when you ended up on a mission that went as over schedule as theirs had.

“There were just… so many.” She found herself saying, still caught in a daze from the events of the mission. At least nothing super interesting had happened in the meantime while they were gone, besides the dance. And Velvet was personally a fan of how her lack of involvement with the school dance had gone for her. Apparently there had been some sort of break-in? That was for the police to worry about, or maybe third or fourth-years.

A few words of encouragement to some of the first-years later Team CFVY walked back to their room, filing in and all the exhaustion and soreness of their mission finally really sinking in as they crossed through the door. Restful though the sleep she had gotten the previous night had been, Velvet had to admit, the whole of the away mission had really taken its toll on her overall.

“As team leader,” Coco announced, “I’m calling bedtime.”

“No argument here.” Fox said, flopping over onto his bed.

Velvet nodded at Coco, and Coco smiled in return. Then a few preparations later they were ready to sleep for the next twenty-four or so hours.

Team CFVY was not, however, so lucky. They deserved that rest, but apparently they could not even have that without, say, being woken by an alert that a large number of Grimm had broken into the middle of Vale and were swarming, attacking citizens and generally being awful. On their day off. And, as Coco was quick to point out, in the shopping district. All in all, a bad time.

“At least we went to sleep in our clothes, right?” Velvet asked as the airship carried them and Professor Port to the fight. They had literally been able to leave bed, pick up their weapons, and head out.

She did not get a response from any of her teammates, which was fair.

The Grimm were swarming when they arrived, emerging en masse from some giant hole that had been blasted in the ground, but certainly no more than they had encountered on any given combat-heavy day of the away mission. And, thankfully, there were plenty of others fighting already. Including Team RWBY and Team JNPR, which was interesting. Good experience for them, Velvet guessed.

Yatsuhashi, Fox, and Velvet went forth into battle first, Yatsuhashi fighting a few things and Fox, naturally, going after the biggest and spikiest thing he could find to fight first. And made it explode, because of course he did. Velvet took a moment to hide behind Yatsuhashi, and Coco chose that moment to walk forward. And judging by the way she congratulated Fox on his efforts, she was in a good mood. In a good mood and also angry.

Those poor, poor, Grimm never stood a chance.

Well, Velvet reasoned as she watched Coco go to work on the assorted Grimm, she had a lot of energy stored up in her weapon by now. There were enough Grimm here, and they posed enough of an immediate threat that she should probably go ahead and use it, right? She would just need Coco to spot her to make sure it worked properly and stayed in control.

“Hey, c’mon, you spent all semester building that up!” No one else could probably tell, but Velvet was pretty sure Coco winked at her behind the sunglasses, “Don’t waste it here.”

Then Coco’s anger apparently hit its boiling point, because she opened up her handbag. The bullets Coco’s handbag used were very powerful and also, Velvet knew from a trip to a gun store one shopping day, _very_ expensive. Special order kind of stuff. The kind of thing Coco was giving up ready access to if they started dating. Once they started dating.

Coco being dangerously attractive when using the opened handbag was not news to Velvet or to anyone else, but still Velvet had to stifle a very un-Velvet noise. _Hurry up, self-confidence, PLEASE._

Then just like that, with intervention from a particularly irate Professor Goodwitch, the fight was over. After some brief commiseration with other students, including three weird ones from Haven who Velvet did not particularly trust but would no doubt be their competition in the upcoming tournament. There were only three of them, though – Velvet wondered idly where their fourth was. That said, though, there were more important matters to attend to, like congratulating the first-years for their contributions to the battle. Coco even offered them a few words, though whether that was because Velvet was already congratulating them or not she did not know.

That said, Team CFVY did not stick around for long. After logging in a report of their experience in the fight, they got on the first airship back to Beacon they could find to board. They had a lot of sleep to get, and in the long-term a considerable amount of training to do. Their qualification for the Vytal Festival Tournament was, especially given the events of the day, pretty much inevitable. But there was plenty for them still to do between now and then.

And finally, delayed as it was by an early-morning Actual Terrorist Attack, Team CFVY caught up on their sleep. Waking up at six AM the next day had never felt so good.

The next few weeks were a blur of training and classwork, much of which was also training. They were specifically asked not to even bother showing up to tournament tryouts, since in the course of the year they had already displayed more than enough aptitude for combat to qualify. “Consider this an opportunity to double down on your training,” Port had phrased it, because of course he had, “And you will no doubt make Beacon proud to count you among its students. Well, more than we already are, of course.” 

Double down they did, complete with starting to develop strategies in their room when they were not training physically.

“Fighting people and fighting Grimm are different things,” Fox explained, being the one on the team with the most experience in the area, “You have to change your priorities.”

“Basically,” Coco interrupted, looking around at the other three, “they’re going to fight back smart. So less, say,” she held up her handbag, “big sweeping attacks, except to get rid of terrain.”

“Terrain’s the other issue,” Fox pulled the reins back over to himself, “The tournament grounds do weird things with the terrain. We have to be prepared for anything.”

Which meant, naturally, that the training now included lots of cross-country running and timed rock climbing. They pulled other Beacon teams in to spar with them – mostly other second-years, but they did have a memorable half-spar-half-lesson or two against Team RWBY and Team JNPR. Then both of them at once, because Coco Adel and Yang Xiao Long really should have never been allowed to meet. Team CFVY still managed to win, but pretty much everyone in the twelve of them was ready to call it a day of training afterwards. And then Coco bought everyone lunch with her parents’ money, which not Velvet nor anyone else was at all willing to argue against. The green-haired girl from Haven, who had showed up to watch, left before the same invitation could be extended to her.

There was only so much training they could do, though, before the tournament arrived. And oh boy did it ever arrive in style, opening procession of combatants and school banners triumphant through the fairgrounds and around the floor of the arena itself, students in combat gear marching (or sauntering, to be more accurate to most non-Atlas students but especially those from Vacuo) into the arena team after team. Between the length of the procession and the sheer volume of the crowd, though, Velvet almost wished she was watching from the stands instead of participating.

This was actually something she probably should have foreseen, but had no way to train for: there was a crowd. A crowd of thousands and anyone watching the broadcasts across the kingdoms was going to watch her fight. As long as she did well they would probably cheer, but as she walked into the arena all Velvet could think of was the potential harshness of their disapproval. Oh no. She had just sort of assumed stage fright was not something that applied to fighting, even in a tournament. Oh no.

Some of that fear must have shown on her face or in the way she walked, because suddenly she was pulled out of staring at the crowd by pressure on her hand. Coco, apparently, had grabbed and squeezed it.

Right. Coco was here. She could do this, just breathe and stay calm and why was Yatsuhashi nudging her and nodding his head towards the TV broadcast screen and _oh no the cameras were filming them holding hands_. Velvet went bright red, and Coco chuckled next to her, pressing on her hand again.

“Just keep walking, okay? We’re fine.” Another squeeze, “Most of them probably think we’re just good friends.”

Velvet nodded, squeezing back, and remembered that the crowd had not stopped cheering the entire time they were on the screen. She could do this. It was not even an attempt to convince herself anymore, it was just a fact. Finally.

The heads of the various schools gave speeches that only went on slightly too long, except for Ironwood whose speech was distinctly too long, and then there was a musical performance (because of course there was, and all the teams had to stand out in the sun as it went on). After that, finally, the teams were led to their various waiting rooms, sorted by school, to await the reveal of the tournament matchups and watch the broadcast of the tournament while they prepared.

The waiting rooms were actually very pleasant, all the participants’ lockers had been lined up against the wall and doorways leading up to an observation deck, out to a shooting range, over to some showers, and, in a less-than-pleasant reminder of the tournament’s potential danger, the medical pavilion all the waiting rooms connected to. Most of the walls were adorned with images of famous Huntsmen and Huntresses, except half of one was clear to allow projection of the tournament’s televised broadcast footage (minus commercials).

“How long until the first-years are done for today, do you think?” Coco asked, watching the screen tick in a countdown to the reveal of the matchups.

Fox shrugged, “An hour, maybe two? Depends.”

“Just enough time to not do anything. Great.”

“It’s a long tournament, what did you expect?” Fox asked.

Coco put a hand on his shoulder, “Trust me, Fox, I’m not complaining. The less downtime we get today the better.”

From the way Coco gazed up towards the ceiling and swallowed slightly, Velvet could put together exactly what was going on. _Her parents are here_. Then the busier they stayed the better, true. This room was probably the best refuge from them Coco could get. And here she had been all worried about people seeing- _Coco’s parents would have seen them holding hands_. Well, today was just turning out all kinds of exciting, both good and bad, huh?

“Lllllllladies and gentlemen!” The screen cried out, “Combatants! We are now ready to reveal the matchups for today’s first round of first and second year battles! Teams, keep yourselves at the ready! And here we go!”

Velvet scanned the announcements for first-years she knew and her team’s own opponents. Team RWBY was facing off against a Team ABRN later, JNPR was on first… and one of the very last battles of the Year Two matches was CFVY versus Team RIVR from Haven. Which, according to the headshots next to the name, did not in fact include any of the three who had been at the Grimm breach weeks before. They were fighting somewhere else, it seemed, off away in the list where the headshots and abbreviations were too thick to wade through. She was sure she would see them at some point, though they looked old enough to be third or fourth year students now that she thought about it. 

“Seems easy enough.” Coco noted, arms crossed as she looked the board up and down. 

Velvet certainly hoped she was right. “Team JNPR’s going to be up soon, I’m going to head up and watch them from the observation deck. Anyone else?”

“I will.” Yatsuhashi replied, and when neither Fox nor Coco answered in the affirmative they walked up to watch together along with a handful of other students.

The deck was an enclosed space, separated from the crowd and the battlefield by panes of incredibly thick glass. The battlefield below was really big from even just this far up the rows of the stadium, and it stretched out a long, long way, currently entirely blank.

“Do you think they will win?” Yatsuhashi asked, looking out as the battlefield started to shift and grow terrain and, here and there, Dust crystals emerged. 

The commentary rang through the deck, but Velvet’s focus was elsewhere. “They have a pretty good shot with Pyrrha on their team.”

“And if the enemy team takes her out?”

“We’ll really see how good of a leader Jaune is, I guess.”

Luckily for Team JNPR, there was no need for that level of stress. It was a difficult fight, but they did eventually come out on top. And later on, Team RWBY ended up winning their fight as well! By that point Coco and Fox had both joined them in observing, and Velvet made sure to stay close to Coco in case she saw her parents in the crowd and needed support or something. Luckily, she seemed fine.

Around the start of the second-year section, though, little things started going wrong in the tournament grounds. A slight malfunction with the arena here, a one-bar inaccurate reading on the Aura meter there. Nothing too major, but concerned whispers spread through the Year Two students nonetheless. Just on the cusp of being noteworthy, but nothing worth stopping the tournament for. Which, honestly, made it even a little more disconcerting – not to mention how there was absolutely no trend in which school the malfunctions were benefiting or hurting. It was all just so perfectly random.

Before Team CFVY finally did go on, though, Coco and Velvet had a moment alone to themselves in the observation deck, standing side by side right up next to the glass. With multiple hours to overcome the anticipation Velvet had thought she would be less nervous, but she still found herself shifting her weight from leg to leg rapidly as she looked out at the battle before theirs.

“Relax. We’ll be fine.” Coco put an arm around Velvet’s shoulders and pulled her closer until their sides touched, smiling.

Velvet nodded, “I guess so.”

“I know so. Have a little faith in your leader, alright?”

 _Trust me, Coco, faith in you isn’t the issue here_ , “Alright.”

“Is something wrong?” Coco turned Velvet towards herself, sliding her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose to check Velvet’s face.

“No, just nervous, I guess. This is all just so…” So something, but honestly Velvet had no idea what in particular to follow that up with.

Coco nodded, “Yeah, I guess it kinda is.” She stepped away and looked out at the field, glasses pushed back up.

Velvet paused, then cleared her throat, “Hey, Coco?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you become a Huntress?” Her parents really did not seem the type to allow her that much independence.

Coco actually blushed, which was really not the response Velvet had expected. “It’s going to sound really stupid. Really, really stupid.”

Velvet giggled despite herself, “I won’t tell anybody. Promise. Cross my heart.” She even drew an X across both her chest and her symbol for emphasis.

“Really, I don’t want to-

“Coco! Velvet! We’re up!” Fox called from the top of the stairs, causing both of them to turn around.

“Coming!” Coco called, then turned back to Velvet. “Look… I’ll tell you after the fight, okay? So you make sure you make it through to the end.”

Velvet nodded, “Right. I will.” And if she could make it through a fight in a tournament with the whole world watching, there were a few other conversations she might pick up with Coco after the fight was done.

The walk out into the arena was, more than anything, very loud. Footsteps echoed just barely audible under the low roar of the crowd, the roar growing more intense as they drew closer to the battlefield. And this was just the excitement for Round One, who knew how intense the audience would be in future rounds? She… honestly, Velvet could get used to this. People cheering for her was much better than the alternative, even if she was still nervous.

No, no being nervous. Coco was here, right? She would be fine.

Team RIVR was less than impressive viewed across the blank terrain of the arena, three guys dressed in varying shades of green and one girl dressed in blue, all carrying pretty simple weapons. Dual-wielding swords, a rifle, a net of some kind and a spear. With alternate modes, maybe, but still that was what they had. Nothing too tricky, it looked like. All they had to do now was hope they ended up with favorable terrain.

The arena took a second to turn, but it was… jungle. Not the best, but not the worst. Reduced visibility, but also reduced mobility for probably everyone except Fox because there was no terrain that could slow him. Too good at jumping.

The fight started out well enough – the one with the net attempted to get the jump on Fox, which was a profound mistake, and pretty soon he was out of commission. The other three simply did not seem to be around, which was concerning. 

\------------------------------------

“So these are the ones we’re using the first one on? Really?” Emerald raised an eyebrow at Cinder.

“The whole team depends on the leader, right? Only one target to take out means a lot of impact with just one little… mishap. And Neo got them the bullet and told them what to do, so all the pieces are in place. Just sit back and watch.”

\------------------------------------

The three remaining members of Team RIVR emerged at once, two covering the one with the rifle behind using their weapons turned into shields. The rifleman took aim, fired, and by the time the bullet was in the air it was too late to notice that it was aimed square at Coco’s chest.

Several things happened and did not happen in the course of the next few seconds. The most notable thing was that Coco’s Aura put up absolutely no resistance to the incoming bullet, merely making a vague fizzling sound. There was then significantly more blood than should ever be spilled in a tournament match. Then Velvet activated her weapon without taking any precautions, directing as much of the energy blast at the enemy as possible before being slammed unconscious against a nearby tree by the remainder of it. 

\------------------------------------

When Velvet came to, there were a lot of doctors running to and fro around the cot she was in, various professors from different schools assembled nearby muttering quietly amongst themselves. She sat up slowly, gripping her head in her hands, the murmurs growing louder as several professors migrated from the conversation over to her bedside. Then they were all talking to her at once, and she grimaced pointedly until they relented and Ozpin alone crouched down next to her, arm heavy on his cane.

“No one here would begrudge you a brief walk to get your bearings while Miss Adel stabilizes, Miss Scarlatina.”

Velvet shook her head, “No, no I should… I should…” And then she made the mistake of looking over at Coco’s bed.

Coco was laid out, breaths shallow and rapid, a cluster of doctors around her channeling Aura to try to heal the bullet wound. Whatever they tried, though, it seemed to steadfastly refuse to work, and they had resorted to pressing the wound together physically to try stitches. The bullet had been removed and placed to the side on a table to be inspected by various parties.

“Go. You should go.” Ozpin insisted.

“I should go.” Velvet repeated, backing out of the bed and turning towards the door to sprint out of the medical wing… then deciding that walking was much less nausea-inducing right about now.

She ended up in the hallway towards the Beacon lockers, a barrier erected on the other end to keep actual Beacon students out with a couple guards for emphasis. Velvet guessed the tournament had been temporarily suspended until the incident could be fully investigated, which was fair enough. The day’s fights had already been almost over anyway, and with how popular Coco was there were plenty of Beacon fighters who might be disadvantaged by the… accident? Was it an accident? If it had not been an accident, then what exactly was it? An attack on Coco? Or on the tournament? Or on Beacon?

Those were big scary questions and Velvet was not really in the mood to explore them right now. Rather she was in the mood to sit against the wall, tuck her legs up under her chin, and break into sobs for a few hours or so. Which was exactly what Velvet promptly did, or at least tried to do.

About thirty minutes into her crying, which had never really been loud enough to accurately be called sobs, a throat cleared from behind her. “Miss Scarlatina.”

Ozpin. Velvet looked up towards him, eyes red with tears, “Yeah?”

“You may not be looking for it right this moment, but I think you deserve some explanation as to what happened.” He crouched down, looking at her with eyes entirely calm.

Velvet made no response either way, but any news was welcome at this point. She just rested her head between her knees, looking forward.

“We don’t know how, yet, but one of your opponents acquired a… very dangerous kind of bullet designed to piece through an Aura. When they wake up from the blast of _your_ weapon, rest assured we will find where it came from.” He smiled, “That blast, though, did win your team the match.”

“Professor Ozpin, I don’t _care_ about the match! The whole tournament can just… just…” Velvet raised her head to glare at him, then looked away, “… Sorry.”

Ozpin put a hand on her shoulder, “The doctors have done everything they can to stabilize Miss Adel. If she makes it through the rest of tonight, there is a good chance she will live.”

“Really?”

Ozpin nodded, “I had the staff clear the area for the night, by the way. So you will find things much less crowded for now. Until tomorrow, when I am sure they and their questions for you will return.”

Velvet swallowed, “But she might be okay?”

“She is strong enough to have a chance, Dust-Point bullet or no. I cannot promise the wound will not affect her in other ways, but… right now I think what she needs most is someone close to support her.” He stood, turning around, “And, if I remember correctly from the way you spoke of her last summer, you are probably the most qualified to do so.”

Ozpin left as quickly as he had arrived, and Velvet swallowed hard before standing.

Coco looked asleep more than she looked on the brink of death, if pale and connected to several pieces of complicated medical equipment. The bedsheets tucked up to just below Coco’s shoulders, but Velvet could tell that her entire torso was covered in bandages. Her sunglasses were on the table next to her, cracked across the lens in, Coco assumed, the fall after the bullet made impact. This left Coco’s face entirely uncovered, mouth slightly open and eyes closed. She looked peaceful, at least, which Velvet supposed was good. That way, if she did die…

No, Coco was not going to die. Coco was going to live because… because…

“You said when I was ready, you’d be ready to go, too. You _promised_.” Tears welled up in Velvet’s eyes, and she dropped to her knees by Coco’s bedside, “I’m ready, Coco. I’m ready. So get up, okay?”

There was, predictably, no response.

“There’s still so much we have to do, Coco. We have to… go out, and… you said you’d tell me about…” words failed her and Velvet buried her face in the sheets to Coco’s side, tears sinking into the cotton, “You have to get up! You promised!”

Perhaps because of how the shouts were muffled by the sheets, they had no effect on Coco.

Velvet’s voice quieted, head tilting just enough to keep her mouth free from the sheets as she spoke, “I can’t… I can’t do this, any of this, without you. I don’t know why you started loving me back, but you’re _the_ good thing that’s happened to me. Fox and Yatsuhashi too, but especially you. I love you, okay?”

And when she again received no response, Velvet broke into a few last sobs, waiting awake in silence for as long as she possibly could before drifting off to a less-than-restful sleep.

_"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled._

_"The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but…”_  
“Hey, Velvet?”

The barest stirring of eyelashes. The cotton of the sheets was harsh against her arms where Velvet had rested her head slumped against the bed.

“Velvet?”

No. No way. It was another dream, like the ones that had dogged at her all night. There was no way that-

“Velvet, you’re on my arm.”

Velvet lifted her head quickly, snapping to attention to look over at…

_”…once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always.”_

… Coco. Pale and still, but Coco. Looking at her and smiling at her and most notably not at all dead. Light was just barely starting to drift in through the window from outside, and Coco was awake. She had made it through the night.

Velvet wanted her response to be impressive, but instead she just sort of devolved into tears, managing to shift her weight off of Coco’s arm as she did. “Coco, you… I…”

Coco pulled her arm out from under the sheets slowly, moving it so that her palm rested against Velvet’s cheek, shaking slightly with the effort. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”

Velvet pressed Coco’s hand against her with her own. It was warm, gentle against her. “Yeah. Yeah you are.”

They stayed there in silence for a few moments, then Coco sighed. “I guess I owe you that story, right?”

“No, you just got up, don’t worry about-“ Velvet tried to insist, but Coco shook her head.

“The fight’s over, right?”

Velvet paused, then smiled. “I guess it is. So why did you decide to become a Huntress?”

“So I was twelve, I think, maybe closer to ten, and I decided to disobey my parents just once, to go to a circus. It was out on the edge of town, and after they went to bed I snuck out to go see it.” Coco looked up at the ceiling, caught in memory, “I don’t remember a lot about it – it was bright and there were a lot of people around. But there was this booth where you could shoot targets to win a stuffed… animal. Stuffed animal.”

There was a pause as Coco tried to catch her breath, then she chuckled. Velvet removed Coco’s hand from her cheek, holding it in both of her own on the bed.

“So I tried it. And it turns out I’m pretty good at shooting, so I hit all the little Beowolves and won the…” she sighed, “You’re gonna love this. Stuffed rabbit.”

“Huh?” Velvet found herself blushing through the tears that were still falling.

“Yeah. Then there was this lady watching - I guess she was a Huntress now that I think about it - and she said I should look into combat school with how good my aim was.” Coco smirked, “And when I found out it was boarding school and Huntresses get to spend so much time away from home traveling, I was sold. And I kept that rabbit for… well, years.”

“What happened to it?”

“It… got lost while moving my stuff to Beacon.” She sighed, “Probably still in some airship cargo hold somewhere. But that rabbit was the only thing I was able to keep from my parents.”

“So… is that why you like me? Because I remind you of…” _A stuffed animal?_ Not the greatest news to hear right after Coco had just woken up.

“You remind me of my purpose, Velvet. Why I’m here, why I’m doing this. Since I decided to become a Huntress, I figured out what that means. Fighting to protect people, to drive back the Grimm, to inspire kids like me. That I can be more than just an Adel. That’s what you remind me of. That’s why I love you.”

“You…”

“So, like I said, I’ll wait for-“ Coco started, but this time it was Velvet who raised a hand to quiet her.

“As soon as they let you out, as soon as you can walk again…” Velvet gripped Coco’s hand a little tighter than it probably should have been gripped at that particular moment, “We’re going out to eat. Together. On a date.”

“Sounds good.” Coco smiled, “Taking it slow, I guess?”

“Well,” Velvet blushed, turning her attention towards the window where outside the sun was finally properly rising, “Afterwards we can deal with the, uh. The ‘yet’ that came up. At the end of the away mission.”

Coco chuckled, “I guess I’ll try not to keep you waiting too long, then.”

“It’s okay,” Velvet giggled, “I think I can wait.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry this is so self-indulgent and full of headcanons except for how I'm not sorry at all.
> 
> Thank you for reading, though, it means a lot.


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